


Fleet Week

by WardenCommanderCousland



Series: Return to Duty Universe [5]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Minor Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian, Past Kaidan Alenko/Female Shepard, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 13:48:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14695467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WardenCommanderCousland/pseuds/WardenCommanderCousland
Summary: Commander Kaidan Alenko is thrilled to see the attention the Normandy is receiving at the Citadel's first ever Alliance Fleet Week, but one person has been conspicuously absent.





	Fleet Week

The rows of Alliance ships felt like they stretched for the length of an entire arm of the Citadel. Lieutenant Colonel Kaidan Alenko couldn’t help but marvel at the sight. This was the first Alliance Fleet Week, and he couldn’t help feeling pride as Citadel residents and tourists moved along the rows of ships. Legends from the Reaper War were given positions of prominence, in commemoration of the third anniversary of the Reapers’ defeat. Tours were being held to raise money for rebuilding efforts throughout Alliance space and the Citadel.

One ship, a frigate, a mere speck compared to some of the warships surrounding her, drew more of a crowd than any other: The Normandy. She was a legend, along with her erstwhile Commander. Shepard had become a legend throughout the galaxy. ‘She should be here,’ Kaidan thought to himself as he welcomed the visitors onto his ship. They were coming to see her. Every few minutes he could hear another Alliance officer saying that, sadly, no, Commander Shepard wasn’t here, she had duties to attend to on Earth.

For four days straight, guests swarmed the Normandy en masse, leaving Kaidan and his crew barely any time to rest. Familiar faces had moved through the crowd, Alliance colleagues and former Normandy crewmembers alike.

“They haven’t shown up yet, have they?” A clipped British accent caught Kaidan off-guard as he stared onto the crowded docks. Samantha Traynor had joined him on the gangway. She’d been on shore duty since the war ended, but volunteered to help with the Normandy.

Kaidan shrugged. “I just thought that Shepard would come. She used to be all about this sort of thing.”

Traynor leaned against the railing. It was late afternoon and the crowds were steadily thinning, abandoning the port in favor of the Citadel’s nightlife. “She’ll come. Shepard might never admit it out loud, but she still thinks of the Normandy as her ship, even if she’s in Rio for the rest of her career.”

“Have you heard from her?”

Traynor nodded. “I was at the Villa a few months ago, upgrading the combat sim programs. She seems happy there. Apparently not being shot at every day works well for her. Running the N7 program is basically retirement.”

Kaidan had to laugh. There was a time when he would have followed Shepard to hell and back, partly because he loved her and partly because he didn’t have any other choice. He turned to head back into the ship, to resume his newfound role as tour guide and general purveyor of knowledge about the Normandy and her legendary crew.

The day waned and long shadows fell through the Normandy. Kaidan had dismissed most of his crew, granting them evening shore leave, and was beginning to conduct the final sweep of the day for stragglers. Joker called to him as he passed the bridge. “Hey Commander, we’ve got a stowaway up here.”

A small girl with red hair was perched in the copilot seat, head swiveling in every direction. Joker was playing with the cockpit displays, pretending to fly the docked frigate. “Ever been through a mass relay?” Joker asked, pulling up the galaxy map.

The little girl shook her head. She couldn’t have been more than four or five. “Daddy said we would go through one when we go home,” she said.

Kaidan crouched down next to the girl. “Where is your daddy?” he asked her. The girl shrugged, watching Joker pretend to calculate a flight trajectory. He had to give it to his pilot, the man was good with kids.

“Can you tell me what he was wearing? Or your mommy?” He offered his hand to the girl. “We can go find them.”

“Mommy was wearing her uniform. She’s in the Alliance.” The girl took his hand and slid out of the seat.

Well that’s helpful, Kaidan thought darkly. The port was swarming with Alliance soldiers. Hopefully only one or two of them was frantically looking for a lost child. “What’s your name?” he asked her.

“Ashley.”

Kaidan smiled sadly. “That’s a pretty name. I had a friend named Ashley once. She used to serve on the Normandy too.” He paused for a moment, remembering the chaos on Virmire. “She died a long time ago.”

They started back towards the CIC. “Do you remember where you were with your parents last?”

She shook her head again. “I took the elevator by myself.”

“Did you go up or down?”

“I don’t remember.” The realization of how lost Ashley was hit her. She looked like she was about to cry.

The Normandy’s comm system chimed. “Commander, we have a very agitated turian down in the gun battery,” one of the Normandy’s arms officers said.

“Gee, like that’s never happened before,” Joker said sarcastically. “Tell him we calibrate the guns daily and they’re firing just fine.”

“He says he can’t find his daughter.”

“I’ll be right there.” Kaidan looked down at the little girl. “Is your daddy a turian?” he asked her.

Ashley gave him a confused look. “He’s just Daddy,” she said. Kaidan sighed and picked up the girl, carrying her on his hip. He’d move faster that way, especially if he now had a second child to look for.

He rounded the corner into the galley and found Gunnery Sergeant Xu talking to an adult turian with a child in tow. “Daddy!” Ashley shrieked, wriggling out of Kaidan’s grip. He set her down before she could fall and the tiny redhead sprinted towards the gun battery, wrapping her arms around the turian’s leg when she reached him.

Garrus Vakarian picked up the small girl and hugged her, whispering into her ear. Kaidan hung back, trying to avoid his notice. No matter how much time passed, even with a not-so-new girlfriend of his own, he still wasn’t comfortable with the notion of Garrus and Shepard together. He wasn’t sure if it was because of his time at Jump Zero, because Shepard had cheated on him with Garrus, or because, deep down, he was still in love with her.

But here he was, with two children, standing in the ship he used to serve on. And it meant one more thing to Kaidan – she was still here somewhere. If he knew Shepard – and despite all their differences, he liked to think he did – there were only a few places she could be.

His first guess turned out to be the correct one: the armory. A lone officer in Alliance dress blues was leaning on the Kodiak shuttle, staring out the open bay doors into the vast space between Citadel arms.

“You’re awfully dressed up, Admiral,” Kaidan said as he came level with her. “I didn’t see you come in.”

Shepard nodded. “I had a report to bring to the Council, so they could ignore me again. Of course, these days, that’s what I want them to do.”

Kaidan laughed, remembering Shepard’s ongoing frustration with the Council’s refusal to acknowledge Saren’s treachery, the existance of the Reapers, or any other issue that plagued her tenure on the Normandy. Joker used to offer to call just so she could hang up on them out of spite.

“Also, you were busy giving a tour. Your comms officer admitted me on to the ship.” Shepard looked back at him, giving him a flash of the green eyes he’d obsessed over for years. “She still hates me, by the way.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Kaidan insisted, despite knowing Shepard was right.

Shepard turned and rested her back fully on the Kodiak, even with Kaidan. They stood in silence for a few moments before Kaidan said, “You named her Ashley.”

Shepard shook her head. “That was her name already. When we went to meet her, we just knew. It was a coincidence.”

“It’s weird to think of you as a mother,” Kaidan admitted. Though the thought had crossed his mind more than once, in the days when they were still together, before she was spaced and vanished for two years.

“Well, biology wasn’t going to do us any favors, and even if it would, I’m not sure I’m able to have any of my own anymore.” Shepard cast her gaze down at her own body. “I’ve been broken and rebuilt a few too many times. Besides, the war produced a lot of orphans.”

“Traynor didn’t mention that you had kids now.”

Her head turned back up. “She didn’t know. They’ve been here on the Citadel with us since we adopted them, until we can get a bigger apartment in Rio. I’ve been commuting back and forth, and doing as much remote work as possible.” She shrugged. “It’s easier for us to be on the Citadel, but we want them to know where they come from.”

She paused a moment, brushing her bangs away from her face. It was an old, familiar move, and reminded Kaidan of their earliest days on the Normandy, when Anderson was still running the show and Shepard was simply another soldier on the ship, when Eden Prime happened and changed everything.

“What about you? You going to move on to bigger and better ships?” Shepard stretched her arm out, gesturing towards the lines of Alliance vessels around them

Kaidan laughed. “There’s nothing better than the Normandy. I’ve been commanding her since the war ended—” He stopped short. He had taken over command, made the decision to leave Shepard on Earth. It was nothing short of a miracle that she’d survived what they all assumed was a fall to Earth after activating the Crucible, and he’d left her. It had taken Joker years to forgive Kaidan for that. He had no idea if Shepard had.

Either way, her expression remained neutral. “I don’t blame you. I would have tried to stay in charge until the Alliance kicked me out, too. She’s something special.”

Kaidan smiled, looking down at the floor. “Yes, yes she is.”

Shepard raised her hand to her ear, touching the comm Kaidan knew was hidden beneath her hair. “I’ll be right up.” She pushed off the Kodiak and brushed off her suit. “Time to go. It was good to see you again, Kaidan.”

Kaidan watched Shepard head for the elevator. As the doors closed around her, leading her up to the Normandy’s main level and its airlock, he agreed with Shepard once again. She was something special.


End file.
